


Youkai and Mermaids

by ginnekomiko



Series: Youkai and Mermaids [1]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, 人魚シリーズ | Ningyo Shirizu | Mermaid Saga
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-13
Updated: 2014-11-13
Packaged: 2018-02-25 07:16:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2613053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginnekomiko/pseuds/ginnekomiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Mermaid Saga InuYasha crossover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. For Want of Flesh

Rin fought to catch her breath as he older sister pulled at her arm urging her to go faster as they tumbled through the dark forest in the middle of the night. “Natsume, where are we going?”  
  
The older girl in the red kimono ran faster still. “Somewhere where they won’t find us! Come on, Rin, just a little further. Then we’ll rest, I promise!”  
  
“But what about Pa?” Rin cried, looking back.  
  
“Pa’s dead! The monk killed him! You’re all I have now! He won’t get you too! You have to keep running!”  
  
Rin struggled to breathe. “But Natsume, why? What does that monk Miroku want with you? Did you do something bad again?”  
  
Natsume smiled. “Because I’m special, silly, that’s the only reason. He wants me to kill me because I’m special.”  
  
 _Because he knows I can’t die unless he kills me himself._  
  
“What does that mean? What makes you special?”  
  
“You’re still too young to understand that. Silly Rin. Do you know why I’m saving you?” Rin shook her head. “Because we’re sisters. Pa may not have been our real Pa, but you are definitely my real sister and I will save you. I don’t want to be alone in this world.”  
  
Both of them stopped running as a large wolf appeared before them. It was poised to attack.  
  
“Go away! Stupid wolf!” Natsume cried.  
  
Rin hid behind her. “Na-Natsume!”  
  
Both girls clung to each other and screamed as the wolf lunged.  
  
When Natsume awoke, she felt her throat. The blood had dried and the wound had already healed. “Damn it! Stupid wolf! He went right to kill me!” Natsume looked around franticly. “Rin! Rin!”  
  
 Rin was beside her. Her eyes were blank. Blood dripped from the open wound of her throat. The wolf had gotten her too, but she wasn’t special like Natsume.  “No! He was supposed to go to me, not you! If only I knew how to do what Pa did!”  
  
“Si…sis?” Rin whispered.  
  
  
Natusme paused for a moment. Maybe if I should just end her pain… No! Rin is my sister! I can’t eat her liver! There still might be a  
way.” She carried Rin’s body on her back. “Stay still, okay? Sis has got you.”  
  
“Sir, Sir, do you know how to perform the  Hangon technique?” Natusume asked a man on the roadside.  
  
“The what?”  
  
It was the same answer over and over. Someone, someone had to help Rin! She couldn’t be alone again!  
  
“Here, have her eat this,” a small boy said.  
  
“What is this?”  
  
“A special kind of meat.”  
  
Natsume forced Rin to swallow the hunk of meat. She coughed violently, but the wound on her throat healed.  
  
“Natsu…me?”  
  
Natsume threw her arms around the younger girl.“Rin!”  
  
Rin began to cry. “I had a scary dream! A really scary dream!”  
  
“Shh, shh, it’s okay now. It’s over. Thank you! Thank you!”  
  
“My name is Masato.”  
  
“I’m Natsume, and this is Rin.”  
  
Now they were the same. Both forever young, both forever together.  
  
The boy smiled to the shadows. “Look Papa, look I made another one.”


	2. To Kill an Immortal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sesshomaru's role.

It took a special kind of weapon to kill those who could not die by normal means. One had to be strong enough to handle such a blade. One had to know where to go and what connections to pull to obtain such a thing.  
  
“Lord Sesshomaru will surely succeed in the task that’s been given to him. Such humans should not exist in this world,” Jaken said in his usual tone of nervous praise as he followed behind him.  
  
Sesshomaru ignored his empty words. It was his job to dispose of those who ate the flesh of a certain sea faring creature.  The result was not quite human, and not quite Youkai, but deadly to either. He had been given the task by his lord father. It was a task he enjoyed very much.  
  
He hated humans. They were weak and short lived. They could contribute nothing to a Youkai like himself, yet sometimes, even someone like his father fell prey to them. That was unforgivable. If humans obtained what made them, equal to, or even worse, superior to Youkai, then what was left?  
  
This blade, this blade foraged by the master weapon smith, from one of his own fangs, this would do the job quite nicely. More than anything, he trusted his own strength.  
  
 Along the way to his next kill, he ran into two young girls playing in a field.  
  
They had that tainted stink about them. They had eaten the flesh, but they had not turned into the monsters he usually disposed of. They lacked the strength and grotesque appearance. Hmm, perhaps he was mistaken.  
  
 “Mister,” the elder of the two said as she approached them.  
  
“Go away!” Jaken barked.  
  
“I’m not talking to you!” the elder said. She grabbed onto his robes. “Mister, please help us! A bad man is chasing us!”  
  
“Oh?” Sesshomaru asked. “And why would I do that?”  
  
“Cause he’s an abomination. He ate something he wasn’t supposed to!”  
  
“It’s true,” said the younger with a nod.  
  
“Who do you think you are? You can’t just order around someone as powerful as master Sesshomaru!” Jaken snapped.  
  
“Oh, that’s right, forgive me! I’m Natsume, and this is Rin.”  
  
“H-hello,” Rin said.  
  
Hmm, the elder of the two was either very clever or very stupid. Was she trying to trick him? Did she honestly think he couldn’t smell the taint in her blood? If he acted swiftly, his mighty blade could cut them both down within seconds of each other. All he had to do was cut off their heads.  
  
Yet, he did not want to be so hasty. These two sisters could make good research subjects.  
  
“I will help you,” he said.  
  
“You will?” the two girls chorused happily with joy in their eyes.  
  
“You will?” Jaken balked. “Master, are you sane?”  
  
“Quite,” Seshhomaru remarked. He looked behind him. “Come along.”  
  
“Yay!” Natsume cried as she grabbed Rin’s hand. “Come on Rin. We got ourselves a prince!”  
  
Sesshomaru looked behind him. the second they were no longer useful, they were dead.


	3. The Land Fish and The Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A love story of a wolf youkai and a mermaid.

Legend has it that a woman in a red hood stalks the territories of the demon wolf clans on nights of the full moon, looking for something lost. Her garment is red like the passion that burned in her heart for the wolf man of the forest. Red like the color of her blood that spilled down her pale skin as her lover bit into her neck.

Wolf demons eat humans, after all; it was only natural.

But this woman in red would not be taken to death so easily. She stabbed him in the chest, her fingers like knives.

Drawing back, in the light of the moon, the wolf saw the truth.

“You’re a fish?” he asked, gasping for breath.

“A mermaid,” she said, her eyes burning. “And you’re a fool! If you hadn’t tried to trick me, I could have given you everything you ever wanted!” she smiled cruelly. “And yet you chose to satisfy such a basic desire? My poor, dear, love.”

It is said that the woman in the red hood searches the forests for her lover. She will take any unsuspecting male wolf and drown him in the waters below. Feasting on his flesh as her lover had tried to do to her so long ago.

Be wise, young pups. Do not trust the eyes of the maiden whose cloak is as red as blood. Her passions are false, and you will be hunted.

So say the voices of the elder wolves who witnessed the event so long ago…


	4. Distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sesshomaru makes Natsume a promise.

He was a seasoned warrior, a killer to those who could not be killed. He could be battle ready at a moment’s notice.  
  
“Sesshomaru-sama!” the two sisters called in unison. Giggling, they ran for him. “Well, did you bring us anything? We helped you find another immortal, right?”  
  
These little imps of his had innocent faces. Their hands were outstretched. Natsume’s eyes in particular shined with a need.  
  
“For you, Natsume, I brought a liver. And for Rin, I took the kimono it was wearing.  
  
“Yay! I’ll go wash it in the river right now,” Rin said.  
  
Natsume smiled. “Rin sure is lucky. She doesn’t have my same craving for liver. It’s gross, but I have to do it. Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama.”  
  
“So long as you continue to scout out immortals for me, I will sustain you.”  
  
“Can you promise me something?” Natsume asked as she ate.  
  
He made no answer.  
  
“If I… if I go after Rin, will you kill me? I’d feel better if it was you who did it. You strike cleanly.”  
  
“You’re worried about the madness that can come with the flesh,” he said.  
  
Natsume nodded, wiping her bloody mouth with her sleeve.. “I just don’t want to hurt Rin. I’d rather die than hurt her.”  
  
“Natsume! It’s big enough I think I can turn it into two! Can you help me fix it?” Rin called.  
  
“Ah, coming Rin!” she looked at Sesshomaru. “So do I have your word or what?”  
  
“I promise to give you a clean death,” he said.  
  
“Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!” Natsume said as she bounded off to join Rin by the river.  
  
He was a warrior. So why had he made such a promise?


	5. Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Priestess Tsubaki and the lady Isago team up.

The young woman patted her belly gently. “Soon my child; soon we shall be together.” She looked up. “Tsubaki.”

“Yes, Lady Isago?” the young priestess said.

“You will have to hunt for me tonight. I am weary, and my time has almost come.”

“Of course my lady,” Tsubaki said as she made a sweeping bow.

The young priestess sighed to herself. The small village had begun to grow suspicious of the number of disappearances lately. It was a simple task for someone like her. She would entrance a victim, curse them and then offer them to the Lady Isago.

They had joined together off of a mutual need. Tsubaki needed some place to hide. A certain unspeakable incident had left her homeless and without allies. While Isago needed someone by her side, someone who understood her rather particular needs.

Mermaids were fascinating creatures. How easy would it be to turn on Lady Isago? If the rumors were true, then the lady’s flesh could grant her immortality. Ah, the thought of it! To be young and beautiful forever! To not have to rely on that low-class youkai anymore!

But how would she go about it?

Lady Isago was heavily pregnant. She couldn’t move that fast.

For now she would play the faithful servant, but she had to find a way quickly before the child was born. So long as she kept offering her mere humans, Tsubaki would have time. She didn’t care how many of her own she had to kill, if it meant she could be beautiful forever.


	6. The Fish Sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sango and Kirara deal with pirates.

It was because father was ill that the two girls decided to take over leadership of the island. Their little brother was not old enough to lead their people, especially not with the Sakagami pirates breathing down their necks.

“My ladies, Sango and Kirara,” said a villager as he ran into their hut.

“Honestly, just call me Rin,” said the younger girl as she tied her hair up in a scarf.

“I’m sorry, my lady! Forgive me!” the man said with a bow. “But the pirates have returned.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll handle it,” Sango said.

“Thank you!” said the man as he left.

“Jerk,” Kirara muttered.

“He’s just trying to be formal you know, it’s the name you were born with,” Sango said with a laugh.

“Yeah, but Kirara is such a mouthful. Rin is a much simpler name, don’t you think?” Kirara said as she puffed her cheeks.

“Whatever you want, Kirara.”

“Sis is mean! I want to be called Rin!”

They had not laughed so easily in such a long time. Between the pirates invading their island and father’s illness, their once simple lives had become much heavier. Sango was the eldest, but only by a few minutes. She took her job as village head very seriously. It was because of her they were faring as well as they were. Those pirates could bully most of the villagers, but they couldn’t bully Sango, not with that weapon of hers. Kirara was doing her best to live up to her family’s expectations, but really, she wanted to move away from the island, to fall in love and start a new life.

But she couldn’t do that, because it wasn’t just her sister she’d be abandoning. She could feel his eyes watching them as they fussed with one another’s hair and readied their weapons.

“Kohaku, you can come in if you want,” Sango said.

Their brother was young, barely ten years old. Because of father’s illness, he had suffered greatly. He was a gentle soul, but in a few years, he was expected to lead. If they could not drive off the pirates, there was no chance Kohaku could succeed.  
Shyly, the boy entered their room and sat with them, not saying anything for a long while. After their laughter died down, he spoke. “Do you think that father will get well again?”

Heavy silence.

“I’m sure father will improve,” Kirara said. “Don’t worry, Kohaku.”

“Thanks Rin. I’ll try.”

“We’re under attack!” echoed the voice of the villagers.

“They didn’t give us much time, did they?” Kirara said with a sigh. She gritted her teeth. “If I have to bow low to those pirates one more time I swear I’ll!”

“It was such a quiet evening at first,” Sango muttered. “Kirara, let’s go. If you focus, maybe we can actually drive them off tonight.”

“Don’t worry, sis! I’ve got you’re back!”

“Good! I can’t do this without you, you know!”

“I know,” she said, trying to smile.

Her dream was a selfish one, she would admit that, but it was still a dream she held dear. Maybe someday, she could have it.


	7. Kaede and Masato

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaede sees an old friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set in the present.

Kaede paused as she led the village children back from gathering herbs. One little boy was watching her from the shadows. Kaede could have sworn she recognized that boy from a long time ago, back when Kikyo was still alive. When the night was still young, she went to see if he was still there.

“Aww, you’ve grown old,” the boy said. “You look like you’ve got one foot in the grave, Kaede-chan.”

It was him.

“Ma-Masato?” she asked softly.

The boy smiled. “Ah! You remember me! I’m so glad! I was so sure you’d forgotten me!”

Kaede drew back. “How are you still so young? Have you come back from the dead as well?”

“No. Actually, I can’t be killed.”

“What?”

“I really wish you could have been with me, Kaede-chan, I would have liked for you to stay young with me forever, but I can’t save you now.”


	8. The Boy and the Criminal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Masato goes in search of the man Kikyo looks after.

It had started out innocently, a curiosity.

“Hey, Kaede, why does Kikyo always go to that cave?” the boy asked. Their hands connected as they walked. It caused the little girl to blush.

“She’s, um, she’s helping some poor soul who can’t move. Or at least, that’s what she told me.” She looked at their connected hands and blushed harder. “Masato…”

Their hands flopped to their respective sides. “What? It’s rocky here. You know that!” Masato muttered.

Girls were supposed to mature faster, weren’t they? What was taking her so long to realize…?

Kaede looked away. “I know, sorry.”

“Say isn’t there supposed to be some kind of secret in those caves?”

“I think so, but Kikyo’s never told me about it. Listen, Masato, I want to be a miko like Kikyo.”

“But mikos like her can’t…. live normal lives.”

“I know, but I feel it’s my destiny.”

Masato scowled at her and did not talk to her for the rest of the day.  
***  
Masato snuck out at night, guided only by the small light of a torch. He made his way towards the haunted cave. Faintly, he could hear the constant, painful moan that echoed through the ground. Was there really a person down there?

“Hello!” he called. He saw a pair of eyes move to him. The body was wrapped in bandages. Masato smiled. So he really couldn’t move, huh? “Mister, why are you down here by yourself?”

“I was left here to die,” the voice whispered.

“Well, whoever put you down here didn’t do a good job of making sure you stayed dead. Of course, maybe that was the idea. So are you the one Kikyo looks after?”

“Kikyo? Is that the miko?”

“Yep! She’s our miko.”

“So that’s her name.”

“Hey mister, want to know a secret?”

“What’s that?”

Masato grinned. “Rumor has it that there’s a mermaid buried in this cave. If you ate part of the flesh you could become whole again.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

The boy shrugged. “No reason. I’ll come again tomorrow and help you look, okay?”

Slowly, the man nodded his head.  
***  
They way Masato saw it, his plan could work one of two ways. Either the man became immortal and feel so grateful to him that he’d do him a favor, or he’d turn into a monster. That was the outcome he wanted. If the man became a monster, it could rampage through the village. With Kikyo distracted, he could run away with Kaede. If they started a new life in a new village, she wouldn’t have to be a miko like her sister. Kaede could be free of her destiny! They could be….

“You love her?’ the man whispered.

“Pfft. You’re crazy! I don’t want Kikyo, if that’s what you mean.”

“Not her; she’s mine. Once I can move again, I will make her mine.” The man said. “No I’m talking about the little one.”

“You leave Kaede alone!” Masato snapped.

“Keep digging! Keep digging! I must find the flesh! I must walk again!”

The man’s desire for the flesh of the mermaid was like a madness. Masato toiled in the cave until it was nearly dawn. The only upside was Kaede’s attentiveness towards him. It made his task easier to endure.

He would find it soon. He was sure of it.


End file.
